Many explosive, pyrotechnic, and incendiary compositions are known in the art. To form these compositions, a fuel is typically dispersed in an organic, energetic material, such as in trinitrotoluene (“TNT”). TNT is commonly used as the energetic material in explosive compositions because it is stable and insensitive. Some common examples of military explosives that include TNT are tritonal, cyclotol, Composition B, DBX, and octol. Tritonal includes 20% aluminum and 80% TNT. Cyclotol includes 65%-75% cyclo-1,3,5-trimethylene-2,4,6-trinitramine (“RDX”; also known as hexogen or cyclonite) and 25-35% TNT. Composition B includes 60-64% RDX and 36-40% TNT. DBX includes 21% RDX, 21% ammonium nitrate, 18% aluminum, and 40% TNT. Octol includes 70-75% cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (“HMX”; also known as octogen) and 25-30% TNT. These TNT-containing explosive compositions are produced into a usable form by casting or pressing processes. Casting is more versatile and convenient for loading the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary composition than pressing and, therefore, is a more desirable process.
In casting, the energetic material is heated to a temperature above its melting point to produce a liquid phase, which is also referred to as a melt phase or a casting material. The energetic material is melted by placing it in a vessel, such as a kettle, and heating to a temperature above its melting point. The fuel, which is typically a solid material, is then dispersed in the organic melt phase. In such a mixture, the energetic material forms a continuous phase and the fuel is a dispersed phase. The mixture is poured into a container, such as a mold or a charge case, and allowed to solidify by cooling to produce the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary composition. This technique is known as a “melt-pour” process because the energetic material is melted, the fuel is added, and the resulting mixture is poured into the desired mold. Many explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary compositions that contain TNT as an energetic material are produced by melt-pour processes because TNT has a relatively low melting point compared to the other components in conventional compositions. TNT has a melting point of approximately 81° C. and remains a liquid at temperatures ranging from approximately 81° C. to 105° C. In contrast, many other chemical components of the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary compositions, such as RDX and HMX, have melting points greater than 200° C. One example of an explosive composition produced by a melt-pour process is tritonal, which contains aluminum and TNT. The aluminum is present as a powder and is dispersed in the TNT.
Explosive, pyrotechnic, and incendiary compositions also typically have a density of 1.5 g/cm3-1.7 gm/cm3. However, explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary compositions with higher densities have improved performance attributes and, therefore, are desired. While the performance attributes cannot be expressed by a single parameter, military explosives typically require a higher performance concentration per unit volume, a faster reaction rate, an increased detonation velocity, and a larger impact effect of detonation than industrial explosives. However, the performance attributes of military explosives also depend on a desired application for the explosive composition. For instance, if the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary composition is used in mines, bombs, mine projectiles, or rocket warhead charges, the composition should have a high gas impact, a large gas volume, and a high heat of explosion. If the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary composition is used in grenades, the composition should have a high speed splinter formation, a high loading density, and a high detonation velocity. In shaped charges, the explosive, pyrotechnic, or incendiary composition should have a high density, a high detonation velocity, a high strength, and high brisance. Brisance is the destructive fragmentation effect of a charge on its immediate vicinity and is used to measure the effectiveness of the composition. Brisance depends on the detonation velocity, heat of explosion, gas yield, and compactness or density of the composition.
Numerous explosive compositions are known in the art. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,624, WO 93/21135, and EP 0487472, all to Caisson et al., an explosive composition having a mechanical alloy is disclosed. The mechanical alloy is formed from solid dispersions of metallic materials, with at least one of the metallic materials being a ductile metal. The metallic materials react exothermically with one another to form a fusible alloy that provides additional energy to the explosion. The metallic materials include titanium, boron, zirconium, nickel, manganese and aluminum.
It would be desirable to produce a composition that is highly insensitive and highly energetic for use in military and industrial explosives. Optionally, the desired composition would be suitable for production in existing melt-pour facilities so that new equipment and facilities do not have to be developed.